A wide variety of weatherstrip thresholds are known in the prior art. The weatherstripping, usually some sort of vinyl insert, must make precise contact with the bottom of the door to be effective. If the distance between the bottom of the door and the insert is too small, the insert will fold upon itself and either prevent the door from closing or be destroyed. On the other hand, if the distance between the bottom of the door and the insert is too great, air will pass through the gap and the weatherstrip effect will be lost.
A common solution is to trim the bottom of the door precisely, which requires a considerable degree of skill not commonly possessed by the ordinary homeowner. Consequently, a variety of designs have been proposed to permit those unskilled to make appropriate adjustments. For instance, in some prior designs, the entire threshold or a portion thereof is raised until the weatherstrip insert engages the bottom of the door to the desired degree. However, the raised portion of the weatherstrip presents a tripping hazard.
In another prior art design, characterized by U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,420, the vinyl is self-adjusting but the vertical adjustment is limited to approximately one-quarter inch. Moreover, after approximately six months to a year, the common vinyl insert takes a shape memory "set" to the bottom of the door. Should the distance between the door and the threshold vary due to settling, wood shrinkage or the like, either the weatherseal contact will be lost or the insert ripped due to lack of clearance.
In the present invention, tripping hazards due to raising the threshold or a portion thereof is eliminated. Moreover, vertical adjustment of the vinyl insert is as great as three-eights of an inch for a normal three and one-half inch wide threshold and greater in thresholds which are wider.
Another object of the present invention is to provide means for adjusting the height of the vinyl insert with the door in the closed position, thereby eliminating the trial and error procedures necessary for achieving proper contact between the vinyl insert and the bottom of the door in existing thresholds wherein there is no access to vertical adjustment screws or other means unless the door is in the open position. As a consequence, installation in the present design is faster and more precise.
In the present invention, a well known generally inverted U-shaped flexible vinyl insert is employed having a bead or tongue engageable in a groove which may be extruded into an aluminum threshold resembling those in use today. However, while one of the edges of the vinyl insert is engaged in a tongue and groove relationship in the threshold, the other is engaged in a similar tongue and groove relationship to an adjustment plate or bar which is moveably and adjustably mounted to the top of the threshold. By moving the plate or bar toward or away from the opposite edge of the vinyl insert, fixedly secured to the top of the threshold, the height of the vinyl insert can be adjusted upwardly or downwardly to precisely engage the bottom of the door. The means for loosening the bar or plate from the threshold so that it may be slid toward or away from the opposite edge of the vinyl insert is located in a plane outside of the vertical plane of the face of the door so that it may be loosened and tightened with the door in a closed position.